Dec 11, 2019 2 min read

FREDERICKTOWN – Those who pass through Fredericktown via the Monongahela River will be greeted to a large mural depicting a ferryboat that once navigated in the area between Washington and Fayette counties.

The mural being painted by Todd Pinkham, an art professor at California University of Pennsylvania and his students, is part of a new, nearly $150,000 park being developed in the village by East Bethlehem Township.

“It’s a pretty huge job,” Pinkham said of the mural on a wall below a Route 88 bridge over the Fredericktown boat launch.

Pinkham said he sketched out the design, including the landscape, in black marine-grade paint before putting the project on hold for the winter.

“I’m pretty happy with the black and white,” Pinkham said Tuesday.

The mural pays tribute to the once-beloved Ferry Boat Frederick that operated from 1948 to 2013, when a new bridge rendered it out of service.

The mural involved donations of more than $5,000 to the Cal U. Art Club from the Mon River Towns, which will host a mural reveal event in the spring, said Cathy McCullom, a director of the program.

Phase one of the gateway project also included the installation of a kayak launch at the boat ramp at Ferry Street, and adding parking and sidewalks that are ADA compliant.

East Bethlehem Township Secretary Mariann Kubacki said a “group of stakeholders” were working on the design of the Fredericktown Gateway Park on property that once held a blighted service station.

Pinkham said color will be added to the mural, which is being done in an Impressionistic style because the paint is more like an epoxy and difficult to apply.